Moments after taking the stage at the venerable Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, Grainbelt bandleader Howard Glassman set the holiday tone: “Grandpa pissed his pants again…” In Grainbelt’s take on the holiday season, human foibles abound, as do our often quiet, unappreciated noble moments.

What do Bob Dylan, Skip James, Emmylou Harris, Nick Brignola and Grainbelt have in common? As of March 10, 2012, they all have played to appreciative audiences with good taste in music at Caffe Lena.

Grainbelt’s debut was a long time coming, but it was sure worth the wait. Playing two sets before a sold-out crowd to promote their excellent new CD (or “SP”), “A Distant Sound” (Kranepool Records), the quintet led by singer-raconteur Howard Glassman, Delmar’s own “song and dance man,” was in top form.

Drawing inspiration from Buck Owens and Gram Parsons to Merle Haggard and Jason & the Scorchers, Grainbelt plays music for those who never think twice about rolling up their sleeves in good times or bad. Restlessness pervaded the first few songs – “Darlene” featured a plaintive vocal from Glassman about a romance spanning coast to coast; “Dunedin”, a guitar-driven track from the new release, depicted the longing to pull up one’s stakes.

Power pop country? If you can imagine Hank Williams going electric, you’ve caught the Grainbelt vibe: punchy, raucous, and down-to-earth, layered with Roger Noyes and Jason Hughes’ dueling, intertwining pedal steel and electric guitar lyricism. Howard Glassman belts out his poetic tales of love and loss with unabashed abandon – hale and hearty, if sometimes heart-broken. Chris Blackwell on bass and Jimmy Kaufman on drums are a solid, pumping rhythm power plant.

They played to a delighted crowd packed into Caffe Lena, America’s oldest folk club, in Saratoga Springs on a recent Saturday night celebrating the release of their new CD, “A Distant Sound.” If there’s any way this music makes its way into the beyond… it wouldn’t surprise me if somebody up there likes them.

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … The first vinyl record I bought with my own money was Boston’s self-titled first record for $.25 at a garage sale. The second was Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock N’ Roll” album. Same day, different garage sale.

GRAINBELT
It’s been a long time comin’, but the Albany cowpunksters are finally delivering their sophomore album, “A Distant Sound.” Led by the omni-present Howe Glassman (who also runs Valentine’s Music Hall and hosts “The Fabulous Sounds” on WEXT-FM), the band brings their latest recruit (pedal steel player Roger Noyes) and their beer-battered twang ‘n’ roll sound to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs at 8pm on Saturday (March 10) in celebration of the release of their long-awaited follow-up to “Trouble Comin’ Down.” Tix for the CD party at $12 in advance; $14 at the door.

But as they say in the commercials, BUT WAIT, There’s more… Grainbelt – which also features guitarist Jason Hughes, drummer Jimmy “The Kid” Kaufman and bassist Chris Blackwell – has also contributed a new tune to the benefit compilation album, “Chorus vs. Solos: A Tribute to Charlie Chesterman.” The compilation features covers of tunes penned by Scruffy the Cat bandleader Chesterman, who is recovering from a battle with cancer. The album is bursting with a whopping two dozen nuggets from such fab folks as Occasional Milkshake (featuring Hootie & the Blowfish’s Mark Bryan and the db’s Peter Holsapple), the Farewells, Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents, Letters to Cleo, Classic Ruins, the Ray Mason Band, Young Fresh Fellows and lots more. Grainbelt weighs in on a chugging rendition of “My Friend Ringo.”

Walter Salas-Humara has been the only constant in the Silos since he launched the band in New York City in 1985 with guitarist Bob Rupe and violinist Mary Rowell. The singer-songwriter bought the rights to the Silos name from Rupe in 1991, and spent much of the last decade as a three-piece with Konrad Meissner on drums and Drew Glackin (who died in 2008) on bass and lap steel guitar.

The current Silos incarnation is typically a five-piece, with Salas-Humara and Meissner joined by Jason Victor on guitar, Bruce Martin on keyboards and Rod Hohl on bass. But the extended Silos family is large, and can include quite a few additional musicians on albums or onstage. It’s a “moveable feast” as the band says, quoting Hemingway — one that adds rich textures to Salas-Humara’s rootsy, well-honed and sometimes stark tales.

In the last year, I have seen both the Chandler Travis Philharmonic and the Chandler Travis Philharmonette, but on Saturday, I saw a completely different side of Chandler Travis as he brought another one of his side projects, the Catbirds, to Valentine’s Music Hall for their Albany debut. The evening started off with the Mysteios blasting through their 45-minute set in true punk fashion. John Brierly, with his guitar slung low, flew through each 2-3 minute song at rapid-fire speed, moving from one to the other, leaving barely enough time to tune between them – and with the intensity he played, this was a frequent necessity.

The second band up was the Catbirds. My curiosity was at a peak. How would they fare after hard rock onslaught of the openers? It didn’t take too long to find out the answer. These cats can rock!!! Right from the first song, “Fish Outta Water,” it was clear this was not going to be another Philharmonic show. Oh, the humor and fine playing skill was there, but they also displayed primal sounds of fully distorted instruments. In previous reviews, I have described drummer Rikki Bates as very solid in a minimalist way – never too flashy. He really let his hair down and showed he was as good as anyone I have seen – all with that same minimalist drum kit.

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … it was either the Beach Boys’ “Endless Summer” or Elton John’s “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player,” and as a nine-year-old I don’t remember how I got the money to buy them.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … The Clash at the RPI Field House 1982. The greatest thing I have ever seen. Ever. Really.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … a piece of crap Strat copy and hunk of shit amp that I bought off of Marc Schermehorn in 1978 for something like $20, and as a 13-year-old, I don’t remember where I got the money to buy them. At the time I didn’t know you had to actually tune the guitar every once in a while, so I got frustrated and didn’t try and play for another 10 years. I was then presented with Fender Squier Telecaster that I still use to this day. Eventually I will tune it.

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